Newsletter The Arctic Under Pressure
JFC Norfolk er stadig under oppbygging og vokser i voldsom fart. Ifølge viseadmiral Perry vil antallet ansatte ved kommandoen være tredoblet innen slutten av neste år, sammenlignet med 2025. Av landene som inngår i kommandoen, har Norge det høyeste antallet personell, sier Perry. (Foto: Hilde Bye).
Dear reader. NATO is strengthened in the Arctic, but hybrid warfare is already underway. Russian gas is still flowing into Europe, and the EU is increasingly interested in what happens at the border with a belligerent neighbor. Here are the latest news from the North.
First, a brief look at tourism. A new analysis shows that ocean fishing tourism generated at least NOK 452 in value creation in Norway in 2023. (Norwegian only)
Russia and defense
Despite the EU’s transshipment ban on Russian liquefied natural gas, it remains business as usual for Novatek’s Yamal project.
At the same time, the West is tightening its security grip on the Arctic.
The US Coast Guard has taken the first key step in strengthening its Arctic posture through a new icebreaker.
Norway and the Nordic region are set to be placed under NATO's Joint Force Command Norfolk in the US, and our journalist, Hilde Bye, recently met the American Commander in Bodø.
But it is not the fear of a military war in the Arctic that frightens commentator Arne O. Holm most. “It is the increasingly extensive attack on our democracies that keeps me awake at night,” Holm writes in his weekly column.
We can also report that a commander has been appointed for the new Finnmark Brigade on the Norwegian border with Russia.
And a delegation from the EU Parliament's Committee on Security and Defense recently visited the Norwegian border town of Kirkenes to gain insights into the hybrid threat landscape.
Interest in Greenland remains high, and the Danish Armed Forces will now be more visible in and around Greenland.
Increased activity in the North has its consequences. A new Arctic Council report from the Protection of the Arctic Marine Environment working group predicts a significant increase in underwater noise from shipping in the Arctic Ocean by 2030.
The French President Emmanuel Macron will go on an official visit to Greenland on June 15th.
Research
Increased activity in the North has its consequences. A new Arctic Council report from the Protection of the Arctic Marine Environment working group predicts a significant increase in underwater noise from shipping in the Arctic Ocean by 2030.
Read about this and more at High North News. Feel free to share the newsletter and reach out if you have anything to share.
Arctic greetings from Editor-in-Chief Trine Jonassen